China, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, and the UK all saw declines in their total militarized dispute involvement in the years after they got nuclear weapons. A number of these are big declines. USSR/Russia and South Africa have higher rates in their nuclear versus non-nuclear periods, though it should be kept in mind that for the USSR we only have four years in the sample with no nukes, just as the Cold War is starting.

3 comments

Are covert and by-proxy military and paramilitary engagements accounted for? With the exception of USSR/Russia, no other nation has had the massive involvement in extraterritorial disputes that Iran has, and none supported terrorist organizations (i.e. ones operating mainly against civilians) like Hezbollah, Hamas, and recently the Syrian army (if one considers that regime illegitimate).

This fact singles out Iran as a special case, and makes comparison to the others suspect.

“no other nation has had the massive involvement in extraterritorial disputes that Iran has”
This is obviously wrong, here are some counter examples.
1- France and UK has supported the Bahrain and Saudi government against their people which are obviously illegitimate dictatorships.
2- Pakistan is doing a lot of terrorist support in Afghanistan,
3- Israel has conducted many terrorist operations in other countries. Israel is the only member of the UN that became larger in the past 50 years.